Russian Superjet crashes

A demonstration tour of South East Asia by the promising new Russian Sukhoi Superjet has come to an aborted finish with the aircraft crashing in Indonesia.  All on board were lost including senior people from the manufacturer, local politicians, media and industry representatives. 

The operation is marketed as Superjet International and is a joint venture between Alenia Aermacchi (51%) of Italy and Sukhoi Holding Company (49%) of Russia.

First unveiled in 2007 the aircraft has been designed to carry up to 100 passengers on regional routes and compete with the Embraer 170/195 product line and the new Bombardier C series.  To date eight had been delivered to Aeroflot out of a total order backlog of 170 aircraft.  The company, hitherto noted for its jet fighter aircraft, had been optimistic for up to 1,000 sales.  However its entry into service was fraught including numerous technical problems and delays.  Until confirmation of the cause of this disaster has been ascertained the whole programme is in doubt. www.superjetinternational.com

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